When I step out of the room, my gaze immediately goes to Victor. He’s standing near the center window, the draperies pulled back. I can hear the rain hitting the glass and am vaguely aware of lightning flashing in the distance. But my attention is riveted on him. He’s wearing a dark blue suit. The corner of a red handkerchief embroidered with two overlapping Vs peers out from the pocket over his heart. He looks Old Family, so incredibly Old Family.
He gives me a long, slow once-over. “Nice.”
I tug on the jacket. “I’m not sure this is really me, but it doesn’t hamper movement, so I’ll live with it.”
“Don’t even think about swapping the jacket for a hoodie,” Faith says.
I glance over my shoulder and see her sitting on the couch, wineglass in hand. Richard is standing off to the side, also drinking wine. He’s wearing a suit very much like Victor’s, only it’s brown. It matches the leather in the narrow strip of braided hair that runs along the side of his head. I want to tell him not to give up on Faith, to persevere, but I suppose after ninety-eight years, his patience is probably wearing thin.
We all sit down to dinner. Rare steaks. The potatoes are covered in cheese. The others don’t bother with those, which leaves more for me.
“I can’t believe the hotel has a cook when it has no guests,” I say.
“Louis prepared the meal,” Victor says. “He kind of takes care of everything.”
From my place at the table, I have a perfect view of New Vampiria. Every time the lightning illuminates the sky, I see the silhouettes of crumbling structures. In books, I’ve seen pictures of the world before the war. We lost so much. The very foundation of our society. For some reason, I thought the remnants of it would still exist here.
“What are you thinking about?” Victor asks.
“Tegan. She told me to go to a museum for her. Is there even one here?”
“There is. Maybe we can find time for it after we visit with the Council.”
“Really?” Faith asks. “We’re going to go sightseeing?”
“If we have the opportunity,” Victor tells her.
“You’re optimistic.” She looks at me. “You do know that bringing a human into the Council chambers is punishable by death.”
“What?” I set down my fork. The steak that was tasting so good is suddenly heavy in my stomach.
“Faith exaggerates,” Victor says. “Besides, you’re not completely . . . human.”
“Have you heard from the Council?” I ask.
“Yes, they’re granting us an audience at nine.”
“And it includes me?”
“It does.”
I shove my plate aside. This is exactly what I was hoping for, but I’m not sure I really thought it would happen. I think about the two months of training that Rachel put me through before I ever was alone with Valentine. Everything had to be perfect: my dress, my manners, my knowledge of etiquette. One wrong move and he would have killed me. The oldest of Old Family are not very tolerant of mistakes.
“Maybe we should practice, go over the rules of etiquette, make sure that I don’t mess this up.”
Victor takes my hand. “Just be yourself.”
“And nauseatingly polite,” Richard adds.
“Don’t speak unless spoken to,” Faith tosses in.
“Never turn your back on the Council,” Richard says.
“Never raise your voice,” Faith counters.
“Never insult.”
“Never anger.”
“Never trust.”
“Never expect understanding.”
“All right, enough!” Victor demands, and I think that, like me, he realizes that Faith and Richard weren’t really offering me advice on the Council as much as they were referring to each other. “I need to know you both have our backs.”
“My loyalty doesn’t shift,” Richard says.
“You’re my brother. You can count on my support,” Faith assures him.
“Good.” Victor turns his attention back to me. “Speak with confidence. Don’t let them intimidate you. You’ve
I swallow, lick my lips. “Okay, no pressure there.”
“Just remember that we’re behind you,” Richard says.
“Standing beside me would be better.”
Victor smiles. “At this moment, you are our most formidable weapon against Sin.”
The great tower in the center of the city seems to be the only impressive thing within New Vampiria. After driving through the streets and seeing the cracked walls on nearly every building and the trash that litters the gutters, I’m pleased that at least something lives up to the image in my head of the vampire capital. The tower was obviously built before anything else. With so much effort placed in its design and structure, it appears nothing was left for the rest of the city. Every stone is meticulously set. The buttresses holding it up are decorated with gargoyles and demons and winged creatures of mythology and dream. There are few windows in this great monolith, giving the pillar a dominating presence, something that lacks soul and contains only raw power.
We walk up the steps to the massive wooden doors, ten times as tall as they are wide. Two guards stand watch, their dark suits unbuttoned, revealing a bandolier of stakes. With us in his wake, Victor approaches them without hesitation.
“The human is my guest,” he says to the guards. “She is not to be touched.”
Victor pushes open the doors and we follow him inside.
I can feel the emptiness of this tower. Hallways that are far too long and ceilings that are far too tall create drafts, as though the building has its own weather pattern. Massive chandeliers hang above us, the long candles dripping molten wax as the flames flicker. They do their best to light this place but barely illuminate the floor, let alone the walls off in the distance.
Every step we take echoes.
“It’s a long climb,” Victor says as we reach a staircase at the end of the circular room, a staircase that winds itself up and up and up. Worst of all, it has no railings. One slip and it’s a long way down. I suppose vampires don’t have to worry about such things—like cats, they always land softly on their feet, no matter the height.
After circling the room three times we arrive on the next floor, an empty space, large and filled with couches without sitters, a bar without occupants, a pool table without players. It’s sad, an unappreciated playroom. We continue the climb to the next floor: something of a library, though so few lamps are lit that it’s difficult to tell. This tower seems more and more like a ghost house, one that never wanted to exist in the first place.
Eventually we do find life: a Lesser servant who quickly disappears around a corner, perhaps out of respect for Victor. A few floors later, we arrive at what is clearly the guests’ quarters. I remember Victor said that humans aren’t allowed in the council chamber itself, so this is where they must wait. Their purpose is to feed their masters. They are all young and gorgeous, carefully dressed and made up like dolls that have the audacity to live and breathe. Boys and girls, no older than myself. All of them wear thick, black collars to hide what I know are the bite marks of their masters. Some, slightly older, wear them on their wrists as well. Vamp bites leave scars if the vampire isn’t careful, and I have a feeling that their masters aren’t. After all, in a vampire’s eyes, a human is easily replaced with another. As long as the heart beats and the blood flows, what’s the difference?
I get glassy-eyed stares from some in the room. I realize they think I’m one of them, merely a plaything and food source. I feel sorry for them, and I’m glad when we continue up the stairs.
We have to be near the top of the tower when the stairs end at a hallway. It’s narrow and cramped, an odd choice compared to the rest of the grand, but empty, design of this place.
“Are you ready?” Victor asks me, already halfway toward a door.
“Yes,” I say with so much conviction it frightens me. Because I’m not nervous. I have been every step of the
